Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
There’s a whole lotta indoor gigs for you this week… Perfect for getting out of the brisk cold July air. Now, got get your groove on!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 7/21/11-7/27/11”
There’s a commonly-held mindset that says you cannot take ska music seriously. From a simple outside perspective, this makes sense; it’s generally very bouncy, positive-sounding music, and the horns just accentuate the level of joy, or perhaps the level of unseriousness. For what is entailed in a ska song, however, it’s remarkably rude to call it simple or childish; with 3 or 4 additional players that accompany a full band, one that’s usually churning out rapid-fire punk riffs, and with all of the members running around onstage, it’s definitely not a simple feat. The energy of the music, for those who do listen and follow it, is infectious and riotous in its intensity, and whether the lyrics are heartfelt and yearning, or slovenly and self-deprecating, wildly energetic audiences will still fill large auditoriums to see the spectacle, and chant and stamp to every word. Such was the case on Friday night, when the Regency Ballroom of San Francisco played host to two titans of the genre: the New Jersey septet Streetlight Manifesto, and the Huntington Beach veterans known as Reel Big Fish.
Nellie McKay is a woman that is dead set on trying to surprise us. She is one of the few artists to find her records in the “Easy Listening” department of the record store with an explicit lyrics sticker on the cover, only to eventually put out an album of Doris Day covers. She recently made one of the most interesting moves of her career, a operetta out the life of Barbara Graham, the 3rd woman to ever get sentenced to death in the state of California.
Continue reading “Show Review: Nellie McKay at Yoshi’s — San Francisco, 7/14/11”
This weekend we have a brand new festival opening up at Potrero del Sol Park. It’s going to be awesome, but there are many other wonderful things to do. Just like these:
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 7/14/11-7/20/11”
Welcome to the dog days of Summer… We are in between all the festivals, and we get to melt our way into a sea of shows… Oh Wait! It’s the bay area! It’s a good thing that none of these are outdoors, because you will need a parka. Well, except for the Monkees, but Mickey Dolenz will keep you warm.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 7/7/11-7/13/11”
I’m not going to beat around the bush here… I really like Rihanna. I respect the fact that she doesn’t write her own music (or pretend to write their own music), because she doesn’t need to. I appreciate that, unlike many of her Rocafella peers, she doesn’t need to placate to the indie community for credibility. Because, quite frankly, I don’t need my pop stars hoping to get caught by the paparazzi at a Dirty Projectors show or swooning over Ratatat on their “blog.” Rihanna is a pure, classic pop star. And she knows how to handle an arena-sized live show.
Continue reading “Show Review: Rihanna, J Cole at Oracle Arena, 6/30/11”
This evening with Sondre Lerche and friends reminded me about why I go to shows. The right performer can take their music and twist it just the right amount to bring you something new and dynamic with their live show. Sondre Lerche, with his sweet pop/rock sounds on record will rock the hell out of you live; jumping around and playing his guitar hard. It is unexpected and quite punk rock of him. Add to that a great accompanying band and his intricate melodies and you get a show to remember. Continue reading “Show Review: Sondre Lerche with Nightlands and Kishi Bashi at Great American Music Hall, 6/28/11”
starring: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Bryan Cranston, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Cedric the Entertainer, Taraji P. Henson, Rita Wilson, Wilmer Valderrama, George Takei, Pam Grier, Rob Riggle
written by: Tom Hanks and Nia Vardalos
directed by: Tom Hanks
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for brief strong language and some sexual content
It looks like things aren’t calming down for the bay area this July 4th… There are more than enough options, including several of the most controversial performers of the last 30 years… There is even a loin clothed wearing tea party icon playing on Divisadero, and I can’t wait to see what happens with that.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 6/30/11-7/6/11”
In 2007, Alison Krauss recorded a record with classic rock crooner Robert Plant. That record led to several years of touring, appearing on every critics’ best of list, and eventually helped solidify Krauss’ reputation as the queen of the Grammy’s. It also led to a 4 year hiatus from her regular band, Union Station. Everyone dabbled in solo stuff here & there, but rumors of a follow up to Raising Sand (the hit record that Krauss & Plantr recorded together) led some fans to worry that Alison Krauss + Union Station was a distant memory. This year, they quietly released a follow up to 2004’s excellent Lonely Runs Both Ways, the subdued Paper Airplanes. This led to their first stretch of shows since 2005, and SpinningPlatters caught them in the middle of their summer tour.